Sorry about the temptations. I'm one of those bastards that can't seem to get addicted to anything. This is the first time I've smoked my pipe in mo's and I'm on the same pack of ciggies i've had fer months. I smoked a year straight once and went to boot camp for 2 mo's and never had any withdrawals/cravings. I don't smoke too much as I've got an ex smoker fiancee and my kids are often around. The occasional lone smoke and drink is a luxury and rarity for me. I know not everyone is nicotine resistant tho.

Nite,

S T
_________________To drown sorrow, where should one jump first and best? "Certainly not water. Water rusts you." -Frank Sinatra

Sorry about the temptations. I'm one of those bastards that can't seem to get addicted to anything. This is the first time I've smoked my pipe in mo's and I'm on the same pack of ciggies i've had fer months. I smoked a year straight once and went to boot camp for 2 mo's and never had any withdrawals/cravings. I don't smoke too much as I've got an ex smoker fiancee and my kids are often around. The occasional lone smoke and drink is a luxury and rarity for me. I know not everyone is nicotine resistant tho.

Nite,

S T

It's cool brah. I too don't have an addictive personality. Ok, sure I can have obsessions that flare up, but nothing that long term.
I think being a little bit of a tight-wad helps too. Have you seen the price of cigarettes lately?! I think that will make more people quit than any kind of health concerns!

Tipua, I am so baaaaaad, I'm supposed to be painting and making a portfolio and I've been working on this piece of pipestone here and there for the last couplah dayz since I saw your first pipe post with tools that would probably get my ass kicked by the carvers 'round here. Not tiki but my first rock carving, using a big file, flat head screwdriver, hammer, hack saw, etc... heh heh. Gotta get to bed.

Nite.

_________________
To drown sorrow, where should one jump first and best? "Certainly not water. Water rusts you." -Frank Sinatra

I was intrigued by pipestone, so I looked it up on wikipedia and got this:

"Catlinite (also Pipestone) is a type of red, metamorphosed mudstone (argillite) rock occurring in a matrix of Sioux quartzite. The stone is quarried by Native Americans for use as sacred pipes called calumets (Fr: "hollow reed"). The quarries are found and preserved in the Pipestone National Monument outside of Pipestone, Minnesota, in Minnehaha County, South Dakota, and at the Pipestone River in Manitoba, Canada."

I would be interested to know how it compares to carving soapstone. Since you only used a file, screwdriver and hammer(!?), I guess it's a soft stone like soapstone. Do Native American's use it for anything else besides pipes? Does it hold detail well like soapstone can?

Sorry for distracting you from your portfolio. I know it can be hard when you know you HAVE to do something, so you just DON'T want to do it! Any kind of distraction can become a major distraction!

Tipua, I just used the hammer to break off some big chunks to get it to basic shape., just a couple of pieces I'd almost sawed thru.

Yup, I always find things to do when I've got things to do. (:

I think it's probably comparable to soapstone in hardness.

Calumet actually only refers to the reed or wood part of the pipe but alot of people will call the whole pipe that.

Regards,
S T

Edit: Wanted to add that in Lakota this is called a Wakan Chanunpa or sacred pipe. Also, yes, there are carvings besides pipes made of pipestone. Pipestone is considered sacred so they are usually animals or other things relating to amerind lifeways.

_________________
To drown sorrow, where should one jump first and best? "Certainly not water. Water rusts you." -Frank Sinatra

I have been thinking a lot of trying out some harder stone for a while - not to take anything away from soapstone. It's a great material and it's been growing on me steadily for the past few months now - but looking at Paipo's work in beach pebbles has inspired me to try something similar (I am in no way delusional that my work could even come close to Paipo's but I thought I'd like to give it a go).
So when a workmate handed me a stone he found and asked if I could do anything with it, I thought I'd give it a shot...

I know this looks rather similar to my easter egg, but I thought I'd go with something I know for my first "hard carve".

I have no idea as to what kind of stone it is. All I know is it's some kind of river pebble and it's HARD! Well harder than I'm used to. It took about twenty times as long as good ol' soapstone, but I guess it will last twenty times as long. If not more...

It's a nice stone all right. Dark with large streaks of a browny-orange.
I don't really want to give it away now, but my plan is to give it back to my workmate. I hope he likes it (especially since I ruined one of my diamond burrs on it. I guess it wasn't a very good burr... But still!)

I've recently decided to "broaden my horizons" and try my hand at carving other materials lately.
I've tried some harder stone in the form of river pebbles I collected from my local river, the Murrumbidgee. Being an ancient volcanic site, the pebbles around here come in a huge variety; from pumice-like to almost jade-like in appearance. They are - to the detriment of my diamond burrs - all universally HARD however.

This is a pendant I carved from one of those pebbles.

Since I'm now waiting on some more burrs to be delivered, I've picked up some more Hebel.
For those who have never heard of the stuff, Hebel is aerated concrete. It is extremely light, and easy to carve. It has the feel of plaster and is just as messy, so carve outside!
All you need are some cheapo wood chisels and maybe a medium grade sandpaper and that's it. Carve away!

Here's what I did today.

It still needs some work. The eyes need to be better fitted and fixed into place. I'm also thinking of doing some kind of head-dress. Plus the Hebel itself needs to be sealed. Even though I've used Hebel once before, I've never sealed it. I don't actually know how to do it... I'll have to look that up, or better yet, if any one out there has used it before drop me a line!

I really dig the pendant your holding in the top pic. Cartoony tiki. Good work.

S
T

Thanks Sneaky!

The pendant fella was fun to do, but he really took his toll on my diamond burrs. I tried some more pebbles, but the poor, worn-out burrs just couldn't cut it... Literally.
Admittedly they were of the famous "El Cheapo" brand, so I'm glad they went as far as they did. I recieved some more burrs of the equally famous "Cheap As Sh*t" brand today (Gawd bless ebay!), so another couple of stones shall get a make-over before these burrs die the death as well(I hope it's a slow one).
I really need to find some sedimentry stone like Paipo's greywacke... although, I'm not sure if that's any easier on his burrs.
I'm afraid I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and buy some quality tools!

On 2007-04-26 03:17, Tipua wrote:I really need to find some sedimentry stone like Paipo's greywacke... although, I'm not sure if that's any easier on his burrs.
I'm afraid I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and buy some quality tools!

I think the stone you used for that wee character is a very tight/hard jasper! No wonder it ruined your cheap burrs.

I dont think greywacke is too bad; its those quartzy type stones that are some of the hardest on gear. Another sedimentary or silt-stone is argillite - technically a 'metamorphic' rock, as it has been baked hard by techtonic pressure/heat. This is what most Maori adzes were made from. Generally a dull grey/green, sometimes flecked, non-translucent. Its totally non-precious and would be free if you knew of a domestic occurance..?

For cheap-but-GOOD diamond gear, try a 'BUTW diamond' search on eBay. Ive bought off the guy a few times and can highly recommend the solid steel peripheral wheels! Ive never tried his burrs and am always dubious about those no-brand $10 packs of 20assrtd burrs - usually rubbish. Better to buy individually from a reputable manufacturer. Hongia burrs are the business if you can track them down. Worth every penny of the bit extra you will pay, and last for a long time.

Tipua, I Really love that Hebel piece. he is Actually more of an advanced carving than the added eyeballs would suggest. Has anyone tried mixing some of the saw dust/powder (from sanding this stuff) with water to fill cracks and stuff? If this were my piece I might try a mixture of dust and water or glue and fashion some eye lids and flesh around the eyes to Really make him look scary. The Decoy.Duck carvers do it All the time with plastic wood. they plop in the bird eyeball and add the plastic wood around it until it looks right then they paint it. The hebel would not need paint though.
How ever you finish him, he is really cool and I believe you have a more extensive art background than we know about. _________________FACEBOOK

I think the stone you used for that wee character is a very tight/hard jasper! No wonder it ruined your cheap burrs.

I dont think greywacke is too bad; its those quartzy type stones that are some of the hardest on gear. Another sedimentary or silt-stone is argillite - technically a 'metamorphic' rock, as it has been baked hard by techtonic pressure/heat. This is what most Maori adzes were made from. Generally a dull grey/green, sometimes flecked, non-translucent. Its totally non-precious and would be free if you knew of a domestic occurance..?

For cheap-but-GOOD diamond gear, try a 'BUTW diamond' search on eBay. Ive bought off the guy a few times and can highly recommend the solid steel peripheral wheels! Ive never tried his burrs and am always dubious about those no-brand $10 packs of 20assrtd burrs - usually rubbish. Better to buy individually from a reputable manufacturer. Hongia burrs are the business if you can track them down. Worth every penny of the bit extra you will pay, and last for a long time.

Tama

*Hebel-jebels!

Hebel-jebels exactly!

Hopefully he won't look so bug-eyed once I create some better recesses for his eyes, cuz he does look pretty freaky, but that's what tiki are all about, no?

Argillite, hey? I think I've heard of that before. I'll have to look around for some lapidary suppliers and see what I can get my hands on. I just wanted to try some local stone as, like Paipo has said, there's just something special about using local stuff.

I've read about the merits of Hongia burrs on yours and Paipo's threads, and now you've convinced me further to invest in some. I believe you've left contact details for a dealer in your stone carving Q+A thread? I'll have to check it out again. I've looked at BUTW stuff once before. I'd buy some wheels, but I don't know how to use that kinda stuff yet! I'm a little slow in learning new things, and the whole carving stuff in very new to me. Baby steps, I'm afraid.

On 2007-04-26 05:34, Benzart wrote:Tipua, I Really love that Hebel piece. he is Actually more of an advanced carving than the added eyeballs would suggest. Has anyone tried mixing some of the saw dust/powder (from sanding this stuff) with water to fill cracks and stuff? If this were my piece I might try a mixture of dust and water or glue and fashion some eye lids and flesh around the eyes to Really make him look scary. The Decoy.Duck carvers do it All the time with plastic wood. they plop in the bird eyeball and add the plastic wood around it until it looks right then they paint it. The hebel would not need paint though.
How ever you finish him, he is really cool and I believe you have a more extensive art background than we know about.

Thanks very much Benz! I know I've said it before, but the fact that master-carvers like you, Paipo and Tamapoutini (to name a few) take the time to comment and add encouragement to new carvers like me, really is fantastic and very much appreciated!

I've heard something to the effect that if you take the Hebel dust left over, mix it with something, and apply it to the hebel, it creates a nice, smooth finish... It's what that something IS that I don't remember! I think it's like a regular product, but for the life of me, I just can't remember what it's called! I'm sure I've got it written down somewhere...
Anyway, it's this stuff you can coat the hebel that weather-proofs it (like for garden ornaments) and gives it a smooth finish.
I'll have to have a good look in my "files" for that info (stuffed somewhere amongst the mess in a draw probably).
I think the eyes will look a little better once I fit them properly, but I like your idea about the eye-lids.

I will admit that I've always loved art and making things and I once had aspirations of becoming an Illustrator. Unfortunately that hasn't happened yet (I've discovered that once I HAVE to do something, I just do NOT want to do it). But I still love drawing, and now, carving stuff!
I have used Hebel before, but it wasn't at all tiki-like.
It's this weird three-faced head. I really didn't have a plan, I wanted to do a head, but I couldn't get one side of the face symetrical with the other so I made three separate faces instead!

I haven't been working on anything for quite some time because it's been just so dang cold for the last couple of months (I'm only allowed to carve outside) as it's winter here in the southern hemisphere.

Not that I think many folks are particularly interested in my dodgy carvings, it's still fun to post stuff!

So here's a series of pictures I found whilst surfing around on the net to fill in some time before it begins to warm up (http://code.oheya.to/ham/sabuandTiki.html).

I don't know what the japanese says (if anyone can read japanese please let me know!) but I just found it amusing regardless.